March 9, 2023
Reading: Genesis 6:1-22
Focus: Genesis 6:9 – This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.
Father, open our minds today. Help us to see Jesus. Open our hearts and help us to hear You. Help us to walk with You. Help me to type Your words. Thank You for Your love and mercy. In Jesus Name, Amen.
NOTE: Please click below evidence of the Flood. Please comment. Thank you. https://bringingjesusn2focus.com/2023/03/08/the-flood-is-not-a-myth/
Mankind had to be a serious mess if God was deeply troubled and regretted that He created man at all. There was no one who followed God in all the earth save one. Noah. He and his family obeyed God. Noah lived a long time before he even had children. He was 500 years old and then there were three infants in his home. The Scriptures say very little about his wife. But I imagine she was up in years also. I’m in my mid-sixties and have trouble keeping up with my grandkids. I can’t imagine how they did it.
Genesis 6:9 says, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” What does that mean to you? He was surrounded by wickedness. Even his extended family members were deep into sin. But Noah walked upright and followed God. The only one of his generation to do so. I cannot imagine being the only one following God when everyone else was following other gods, participating in immoral acts, stealing, killing and, you name it they were doing it. It’s hard enough these days being a Christian. At least, there are others who believe as we do. But to be the only one is mind-boggling.
There he was. Noah, follower of God. I don’t think it took God too long to find him. He was a light in a world full of darkness. His immediate family followed God as Noah did. God told him what He was going to do and that He would save him and his wife, his sons and their wives. So, there were going to be only 4 men and 4 women, chosen by God to save the human race. Eight people! Then God gave Noah a one-on-one lesson on how to build a boat. Not just any boat, mind you, but one big enough to save his family and pairs of all the animals, birds and creatures on the earth. I don’t know about Noah, but I would have gulped and said, “Say what?” This was going to be a monumental task. God gave Noah the dimensions, the type of wood to use, instructions on how to make it waterproof and how to build the inside of it. God called it an ark. It was to be made of cypress wood (some translations use ‘gopher wood’). There would be many rooms in it and it was to be coated with pitch (tar) inside and out to make it waterproof. Noah was to put three decks in it and put a roof on top. The roof had to have an opening one cubit high all the way around.
Let’s take a look at the size of the ark. It was to be 300 cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. The probable measure of the cubit Noah used is about 20.4 inches. This was known as the royal cubit in ancient days. Using this measurement, we will estimate that it would make the ark about 510 feet long, 85 feet wide and 50 feet high. To give you an idea of the size, an American football field is 120 yards long from the back of one endzone to the back of the other. That would be 360 feet long plus you would need an additional distance from the goal line to the 50-yard line, or 150 more feet to make the entire length of the thing. The width of the ark would be the distance from the goal line to about the 28-yard line, 85 feet. Finally, it is 50 feet high or the height of a modern four-story building. Now that’s 510 feet long, 85 feet wide and 50 feet high, which comes to 2,167,500 cubic feet. I did some checking on the internet to see if we could estimate how much wood was used. Most of the sights state that Noah may have used over three million board feet of wood to build the ark. Now, that’s not just a big boat, that’s one HUGE boat.
The Bible doesn’t tell us how long it took Noah to build this ark. But we do know he was at least 500 when his sons were born, and he had reached 600 when the flood began. It does not tell us the tools he used or whether or not he and his sons were the only ones who helped build it. So, we’re looking at about 100 years from the birth of his sons to the flood itself. All over the world people have constructed their idea of what the ark looked like. I found this on the internet when I looked up Noah’s ark. I don’t know about that sail thing in the front, but this is kind of how I’ve always imagined it looked.
There are life-sized arks and scaled down models of all description and design all over the world. They are in the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Hong Kong and even here in the United States, in Texas and Kentucky. They used the same dimensions or scaled down dimensions and the designs are as individual as the builders. No two are exactly alike. Those arks took years to build but nowhere near as long as Noah spent. One man in Europe spent 20 years. The one in Kentucky took about 4 years to build and they used all sorts of modern equipment.
On top of building the ark, Noah and his family had to collect and store enough food to feed all the animals that would be aboard. I imagine that each kind of animal had its own enclosure and storage for their feed. There were probably ramps, or stairs that made navigating inside the ark possible. There also had to be a way of removing waste and gathering fresh water. It was not a simple box with rooms in it. As I have said before, God had a plan, and a plan for the ark which He gave to Noah.
Now, remember this, up until the rain began to fall after Noah and his family were shut up into the ark, no one had ever seen rain. Genesis 2:6 tells us “. . . streams would come up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.” So, here was this old man and his three sons building a boat where there was no lake, or river, or ocean to sail on. And no rain! Can you imagine the reaction of his neighbors? I imagine that Noah told everyone who asked what he was doing and why. He also probably told them that they needed to turn from their wickedness. But Bible says that only 8 people entered the ark. Even when they saw animals coming in pairs, seven pairs of clean animals and birds, and one pair each of the unclean animals, they probably still mocked him.
No one had never seen rain, but Noah believed that if God said it would rain, then it would rain; whatever rain was. So, Noah built an ark.
How does this reflect Jesus Christ, you ask. Look all around us; the earth is corrupt. Death can come from anywhere and from anyone. Sin is so easy, and sin is everywhere. It looks fun, bright and colorful, but that is just the façade. Underneath it is dirty, and hopeless. The bright lights of the bars, the slot machines. The highs of this drug or that. They are only momentary and fade quickly. They never satisfy. People live for themselves. People live as if there is no God. Cults teach that we are our own god. Jesus, Himself, said, “As in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.” (Luke 17:26-27) People are falling away from God. People are dying and falling into eternal separation from God. Hell.
But just as in the days of Noah, God can walk with us. Jesus made that possible. You don’t have to change or clean up your life. You can come to Him just as you are. There are no special words to say. No secret handshake. No oath that has to be sworn. Just a heart that longs to be clean and longs for fellowship with God. Believe that He is the Son of God who died for you, ask forgiveness of your sins and turn away from the life you lived before; the life that was looking for something that satisfied and would fill that God-shaped hole in your heart. Simple faith. Like the faith of a child.
This doesn’t mean that we won’t have trials after we accept Jesus Christ as Lord, and Savior. We still live on this planet. Death and corruption will still be around us, but we are in the spiritual ark, and we will be saved when the death and corruption is swept away by the return of Jesus Christ and the ultimate defeat of Satan.
Are you walking?
Father, I’m worried. Please walk with me today. Please show me if this blog is Your plan for me. My website isn’t working right and I don’t know what is wrong. I want to follow Your leading but if feels as if I am being hindered from going forward. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Food for Thought
- God regretted making man. Why?
- Why do you think that God didn’t have rain fall on a regular basis?
- Why do you think God destroyed all life on earth not just mankind, except for those in the ark?
- Why do you think that sin looks so inviting?
- Have you done things that interrupt your walk with God?
